Day 15 of 21
Holy cow I’m so tired. Picking Alisa up at the airport in four hours. I need some sleep.
I got The Tattoo today. Anjuna asked her friend Greg, a grafitti artist, to create the tag for me. And then she hooked me up with a tattoo artist. It was a little bit cloak and dagger. I had to call Carlito who told me to call G.G. who had to coordinate with Gabby….which all lead me to taking the Metro out to the 12th at 9PM to meet G.G. in front of an apartment building. The fact that I was only a tiny bit nervous speaks volumes to what kind of state of mind I’m in.
I had a great time tonight.
I had to wait awhile because Gabby was inking someone else. So G.G. who owns Eazy Ink waited with me and we talked for awhile. People are always apologizing to me for their poor English but I don’t even attempt the French and I feel like I completely understand. I really enjoyed talking to him. It was relaxing. At one point we were watching some horrible Greg Kinnear horror film (they’d put it on in English for me <3) and we were eating pizza and drinking Jack and coke. College flashbacks.
So it was finally my time. I was in with Gabby until 2 AM. I was so tired. It was like I didn’t even care about the tattoo anymore. Gabby said he wasn’t tired but he was yawning and when we left to get me a taxi he grabbed the bottle of Jack for the walk. I love Paris.
Earlier today was pretty great too. I got out of the house early and went to visit La Mosquee. Once again I had no idea what to expect. Circled the block a few times trying to figure out which was the entrance and what it was I was planning to do when I got in there. My Time Out Paris guide came into service again, letting me know that the scholarly parts were not open to the public but the tea room and the Hammam were.
I sat to write in the tea room and had a couple of small glasses of sweet mint tea.
In the afternoon Linda and I went to Saint Germaine and had coffee at Relais Odeon. Nice cafe. Nice convo. I have come to like the process of trying to understand one another. It’s relaxing because I like the people I’m talking to and I don’t try to listen to every word…I just go by the feeling and I find that it’s very easy to understand. Even when it’s a complicated thing like Linda explaining her thesis to me.
A funny thing happened with our waiter. I think he was flirting. He said to Linda that we should notice how careful he was not to burn me when putting my coffee down in front of me. And that he brought water. And wasn’t he such a pretty gentle boy? Linda translated for me and I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair. Linda says French men don’t really flirt –except in the club.
Alisa is arriving in 3 hours. I have to leave here in 2 hours. And I haven’t slept.
Here is a song I loved today.
Paté and Heartbreak 